Brand Guidelines

Principia is founded on a rich history and has a unique mission: “. . . to serve the Cause of Christian Science through appropriate channels open to it as an educational institution” (Education at The Principia, p. 228). This mission has guided the institution for over 110 years. Effectively managing Principia’s brand plays a vital role in shaping the perception of our institution and the engagement of our students, parents, donors, faculty, and staff, as well as the larger Christian Science community. Accurately communicating and protecting our brand are essential to supporting Principia’s current strategic vision and ensuring the institution's viability far into the future.

Principia's brand reinforces our mission, communicates who we are and what we stand for, and distinguishes us from other schools. All of our communications—written, visual, and audiovisual—should be "on brand." This is especially important as we widen our outreach from printed publications, direct mail pieces, and brochures to e-marketing via e-mail, our website, and social media outlets.

While Principia’s campuses, academic units, and administrative departments all have unique strengths and individual stories to tell, each is part of a single institution. The use of clear, consistent marketing reinforces this unity and helps present Principia in a coherent, professional manner.

Principia’s branding guidelines are explained in our Visual Identity Guide, which details our graphic standards. In addition, following our Editorial Style Guide and Web Standards will help ensure consistent communication across a variety of platforms. These guides and standards provide the rules, instruction, and tools necessary to help Principia maintain a unified message—one that creates instant recognition and ensures consistency throughout Principia’s communications.

Utilization of these guides and standards will help Principia accomplish the following objectives:

enable the institution’s academic units and administrative departments to communicate cohesively and consistently to diverse audiences

differentiate Principia from its competitors in a consistent and effective manner

reinforce Principia’s brand, which, in turn, will support the institution’s growth and strategic objectives

What is a brand?
A brand is the set of expectations, memories, stories, and relationships that, taken together, account for a consumer’s decision to choose one [school] over another.

How has brand changed?
A brand used to be something else. It used to be a logo or a design or a wrapper. Today, that’s a shadow of the brand, something that might mark the brand’s existence. But just as it takes more than a hat to be a cowboy, it takes more than a designer prattling on about texture to make a brand. If you’ve never heard of it, if you wouldn’t choose it, if you don’t recommend it, then there is no brand, at least not for you.